HR Specialties with Bright Futures

As technology becomes more powerful, which HR specialties remain relevant in the marketplace? In our previous post, we illustrated why middle level management jobs are being decimated. Because most tactical HR jobs are in middle-level management, we are changing the paradigm of what constitutes an HR specialty to ensure skill security and earning power.

Strategy cannot operate beneath another strategy; the former is tactical by definition. With algorithms automating tactical executions using big data, people become less relevant to the process.

Computers excel at defined routine tasks. They play chess well. Yet even the best algorithms can’t innovate original strategies. We can transition HR from tactical executions beneath strategy by developing HR specialties along business strategies.

HR Avant-Garde has notable success mentoring HR protégées in disciplines as varied as big data and social media. While attending HR career fairs, they find themselves with few rivals. If you specialize in traditional HR functions, how many people are competing with similar skills? How much smaller is the applicant pool for HR experts specializing in pre-IPO startups requiring post Series A funding ramp ups?

An HR specialty in turnaround companies reorganizing under bankruptcy protection is another in-demand niche with few competitors.

How many of your colleagues have developed expertise in the HR complexities surrounding mergers and acquisitions? US companies are horizontally integrating into Asia and Latin America lacking HR specialists who can integrate and incentivize international teams around a coherent strategy.

This new paradigm of HR disciplines avoids being obviated by technology by centering on strategic business lines instead of HR categories. These neo-HR specialties with their business-line focus are in high demand while remaining in short supply, because they go against the conventional HR approach.

The Least You Need to Know:

Consider being the HR guru in these business specialties to give you a competitive advantage in a market saturated with conventional HR practitioners:

Pre-IPO Startups

Social Media

Big Data

Mergers & Acquisitions

Turnaround

Internal Marketing

Innovation

Companies horizontally integrating across boarders

Companies increasing or decreasing their vertical integration

Vincent Suppa works with startups and investors and teaches graduate courses at New York University. His email is suppa@suppa.org.